We analyse the operation carried out by Repsol after opening an €85m fund with the aim of investing in startups.

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We analyse the operation carried out by Repsol after opening an €85m fund with the aim of investing in startups.

Repsol corporate venturing: new RCV fund

Spanish multinational energy and petrochemicals company Repsol announces the creation of the RCV fund (Repsol Corporate Venturing) through which it will earmark €85 million to acquire stakes in start-ups. The aim is to find emerging companies related to mobility, circular economy, new materials or technologies applied to exploration and production for the next two years.

At present, Repsol has invested seven million of the 85 million planned. In addition, the oil company intends to invest a further ten million in equity investments. Since the beginning of the year, the fund has analysed more than eighty investment opportunities, of which some have matured and several are in the final process. However, it has a stake in eight start-ups, all of which are technology-related. For this reason, any potential candidate to benefit from this fund must be related to the technological field, as the RCV will focus on attracting projects in the circular economy, advanced mobility, initiatives that diversify the energy supply, technologies applied to exploration and production and projects that enable progress in the automation of processes. In short, the aim is to attract technological innovation that is closer to commercial deployment.

With this fund, Repsol seeks to create a global network of contacts over the coming years, including universities, incubators and venture capital from other companies.

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Investments made by Repsol in the technology sector

In 2017 and 2018, Repsol made five investments related to the technology sector, proof of the shift in its business strategy.

In March 2017, it invested in Drive Smart, a Spanish app that helps to improve driving habits. In this way, it allows users to prove to insurers that they are not committing infringements and to obtain fairer and more beneficial conditions. The app is also a window for users to publicise their driving skills and reach out to potential passengers for carpooling or ridesharing.

A few months later, Repsol invested in WeSmartPark and Sorbwater Technology. The first is an application that recommends cheap parking in large cities. The second, Sorbwater Technology, provides solutions for industrial water treatment.

This year, the oil company invested 8,600,000 euros in Silence, an initiative that allows citizens to travel by scooter. The user rents the vehicle through the application for the time needed and only has to pay for that use.

Finally, this August Repsol invested thirty-one million dollars (around 27 million euros) in Ample, the US start-up dedicated to developing a new way of charging electric vehicles.

In short, Repsol is committed to both national and international start-ups that make use of technological advances and are related to mobility and technologies applied to exploration and production. It can be seen that all the latest investments made by Repsol in the technology sector are projects that provide greater autonomy to the user, as they are easily managed through electronic devices., while reducing economic costs and facilitating their daily actions.

Other energy corporate ventures

The following table lists large companies that, like Repsol, have become Corporate Venture of energy companies.

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